Hidden
by Paper75fire812
Summary: Metal has feelings and attempts to find out what to do with them.
1. Chapter 1

There had to be an explanation.

Sure, the incident may have appeared to practically exute normalcy when viewed and analyzed by an outsider looking in, what with it resembling the average fight between him and Sonic, complete with snarky one-liners, Doctor Eggman hurling orders at him, on occasion, the slightest amount of bloody gore, a lightning fast pace, and Metal losing (only by a diminutive error, he would later claim), but he knew better. Metal had reanalyzed the idiosyncratic scene 27.3 times and each analysis resulted in the same unsure conclusion; Sonic's quippy attitude had a hidden underlying message that he simply couldn't decode.

The battle started off like most did. After he snagged the Chaos emerald like the doctor ordered him to, Sonic appeared after what seemed like forever (it had been a while since the last of their fights and, though it confused him greatly, Metal Sonic had strangely begun to miss it) and attempted to swipe the gem from his hand, though Metal's superior speedy dodging and sharp attacks prolonged the fight.

That was when the tone of the fight began to shift.

As per usual, the blue blur began throwing witty comments about him and Metal ("Too slow!" "Catch up, Metalhead!" etc.), mostly pertaining to speed. However, the lighthearted jabs and clever jokes gradually morphed into complements ("Heh, keep that up and you might even get almost as fast as me! Almost.") and began to sound as if Sonic was hinting at something when he spoke ("Whoa, got some new tricks up your sleeve, huh? Nice."). The robot took note especially of the almost suggestive tone in his counterpart's voice in the simple line "Ha! How do you like that~?" (he tried to ignore, however, the few extra jolts of electricity that shot through his circuits placed where his spine would be, if he had one, upon hearing said line).

The confusion fully set in upon receiving the suggestion to "Try and keep up, Mets!". Mets? Where could that come from? Metalhead he could understand, due to it's insulting nature, but Mets? That couldn't be interpreted as anything other than a pet name! The realization left the botnick so shocked and flustered that his counterpart, met with the sound of Metal's internal fans whirling intensely in a desperate attempt to cool down the overheated and, consequently, bright red metal plates where his cheeks would be instead of protests or a comeback practically oozing with sarcasm, managed to wrangle the gem right out of Metal's hand. The endless data analysis and research he did suggested enemies never, unless attempting to mock said enemy, nicknamed each oth-

Wait…

Flustered?!

 _Red in the face_!?

What on Mobus provoked _that_ reaction from him?!

It certainly couldn't have been part of his original programming, could it? After all, what purpose could it potentially serve in combat? The concept itself made less sense than what Sonic did next.

As the blue blur whizzed by, Metal quickly recalibrated his systems and boosted himself in the same direction, hot on his target's tail. He could sort out this newly acquired information another day. At the moment, he had orders to follow and a mission to complete.

Sonic, however, didn't view the situation as seriously as his robot counterpart did, instead opting to ease up on his speed enough for Metal to catch up to him (though not so much that said robot could reach the Chaos emerald). "Ya know, Metal," he began, yanking the stone out of Metal's reach, "I was thinking, since the emerald's clearly going home with me this time," the badnik swiped at the gemstone again, missing, "and robuttnik over there probably won't be coming up with any new schemes for at least a month, I was, uh, wondering if...you and I could...maybe..." he missed again, cursing his inferior copy's luck and taking in the subtly nervous and slightly flustered look the organic hedgehog was unsuccessfully attempting to hide, "...hang out sometime?" Thrown off guard, he stopped in his tracks altogether, prompting Sonic to mimic the action. "I-I mean, if you're not, um, busy or anything."

…

"...Uh, Metal?"

…

"Mets? You still there?...Hello?"

Frozen in shock, the robotic copy internally scoffed. "Was he still there?", of course he was! Had the hedgehog gone blind? He was simply suffering from internal short circuiting due to shock at the moment, causing an inability to speak or move.

"...alrighty then, i'll take that as a no and just bring this," he held up the emerald in his hand, "back home."

The hedgehog slowly rotated around to run off into the distance, a grin plastered onto his face. "See ya around, Metalhead!" He added, giving the robot his signature thumbs up and winking before disappearing from Metal Sonic's sight and leaving him with only his thoughts.


	2. Chapter 2

After deciding that wallowing in his confusing feelings and obsessing over every little detail of the encounter wasn't doing him any favors or assisting in solving the mystery at hand, he stood up and began heading towards Dr. Eggman's office. Surely, if his complex database and hardware couldn't find an explanation for all this, his creator certainly must have the answer.

"Father?"

"Hmm?" Eggman muttered, not bothering to look up from the blueprints spread across the cluttered table.

"What could potentially cause a reddening in the face due to internally produced heat, electricity shooting down one's spine, inability to vocalize, a flustered state of being, and a general desire to be in another person's presence?"

After mulling the query over in his head, the inventor simply muttered "Love, I suppose."

"...I beg your pardon?"

"Ya know, romance. The whole week in your knees, tongue tied, lovey dovey deal. The heart's in your eyes," Strange, he recalled pixelated hearts flashing on his visual monitor during the battle and simply chalking it up as a malfunction or leftover coding. "Cupid's work, the reason that annoying pink girl with the hammer's convinced that pesky blue hedgehog is dreamy." Metal shuddered at the realization that he agreed with her. "That sort of thing."

"...I see. I would also like to know what would prompt Priority 1: Sonic the Hedgehog to request to spend time with one of his multiple enemies."

He shrugged. "Beats me. Maybe he'd wanna be friends? Or lose some enemies? Or maybe it'd be, like, a date or something? I dunno."

Maybe it'd be a date.

Maybe it _was_ a date.

Holy shit, Sonic asked him out on a date. And he genuinely wanted to attend it. Because he was undoubtedly attracted to him. And, if the resulted yield from his internal computer search on dates were accurate, the feeling was mutual.

"Say, where are all these questions coming from, anyway?"

"They stem from my newfound knowledge regarding my romantic attraction for Sonic."

"...Oh. I see."

"...Sir, are you ok? You're shaking and gritting your teeth 63.6% more than usual."

"...This is fine." he explained, despite just receiving the news that one of his greatest weapons fell in love with his mortal enemy and that this was clearly Not Fine™.

"...I understand." He did not understand, and, frankly, was quite concerned, but seemed too afraid to push the issue any further. "Thank you for your input, Doctor." he added while swinging the office door open.

"Emm...Metal?"

He froze. "Yes, Sir?"

"Can I trust you to prevent your...feelings for Sonic from interfering with my plans and your initiative to annihilate him for the time being? I may need some time to find a solution to this...situation."

He smiled (internally, of course, since he had no mouth). "I promise I will, father." He answered, earning a miniature smile from Robotnick and closing the door behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

This was fine. He'd handled his feelings well enough before. What was a few more times? And besides, how could he swoon over Sonic when said inferior copy was dead in the ground and the pride that came with finally proving to all of Mobius who was the true superior and real Sonic blocked all other feelings out of his systems?

It's a shame that didn't happen and, instead, his feelings for the organic got his ass kicked.

This, of course, was the reason Metal was scouting the forest to find his counterpart and take him up on that offer for a date. The robot figured that becoming the hedgehog's boyfriend would help soothe the raging urge to smooch his irritatingly gorgeous face off that keep popping up during battle. Spotting the X tornado, he drifted down, landing right next to the hedgehog he was looking for and scaring the living shit out of him, which probably wouldn't help him earn the status of Sonic's boyfriend, but he'd manage.

"Chaos, Metalhead, don't do that." Metal simply stared back at him, refusing to apologize to his inferior mortal enemy, despite the light wave of guilt washing over him. Chaos, these new feelings were illogical.

"So, what brings you here, Mets? Looking for a rematch already?"

The machine rolled his eyes. "I came to take you up on your offer from our second to last battle."

Sonic furrowed his brows in concentration before the realization hit him and he smiled. "Oh, right, that!...Oh." Pink dusted his muzzle. "...Metal, you, uh, you know that was, like, a dating thing, right?"

"I am well aware, correct."

"...Oh. Ok then. That's cool." It was a bit more than cool in his opinion, but if he explained any further, he'd come off as lame and desperate to his crush, and there was no way he was letting _that_ happen anytime soon.

…

"What activities will we be partaking in?"

"...I'm sorry, what?"

"What do you have planned for our outing?"

"Oh, shit...I, uh, I don't know...I didn't think i'd get this far."

Metal Sonic generated a few beeps akin to sighing. He should have expected that. To be fair, Sonic's experience with love amounted to a not-so-secret admirer stalking him with the intent of marrying him against his will, a short-lived relationship that was whipped from his mind entirely, and a love that he left for reasons Metal knew not of, therefore, he didn't expect his copy to be a romance expert or anything along those lines. "Luckily, I have done extensive research in preparation for this situation and have concluded that the ideal date involves fine dining and witnessing a film, in that exact order."

Sonic chuckled. "Wow, dinner and a movie, how original."

"As a side note," Metal continued, "if all goes well throughout most of the date, I will give you permission to hold my hand during the last 13.7 minutes of the films, the end credits, the possible after credits scene, and when we walk out of the movie theater."

"Whoa, hand holding?! Slow down there, babe," he playfully warned, causing Metal's motor to freeze for a moment at the word babe "I'm a won't-kiss-on-the-first-date kinda guy!" He placed his hand on his Metal counterpart's shoulder as said robot prayed that his rising internal temperature didn't burn his enemy's hand off. "Listen, Mets, how does this sound? You, me, no food, since you don't have a mouth," He silently cursed himself for not taking that fact into account when doing his research and, consequently, appearing like a fool in front of the object of his affection, "And a movie on the couch."

"...That sounds...rather pleasant."

The hedgehog grinned. "Great. It's settled then."

"Correct."

…

"...So, now what?"

Sonic shrugged and then, a few seconds later, shifted his eyes to the back of Metal's head. "Hey, how about a race? Winner gets to initiate the first kiss~."

Rolling his eyes at the finger guns and wiggling eyebrows that accompanied Sonic's suggestion, he simply replied with a "You're on. However, please refrain from getting your hopes up, dear," (Sonic almost lost his footing behind the imaginary starting line upon Metal addressing him as dear) "I will prove victorious as always."

"Heh, what makes you so sure? I _am_ the fastest thing alive, after all." He smirked.

"That is a true statement. It's a good thing i'm not alive." And then he was off, flying at a breakneck speed as his new boyfriend speed up to catch up to him.


End file.
